Marriage of Harry Maylie and Rose Fleming

The marriage of Harry Maylie and Rose Fleming is the culminating romantic and social resolution of Oliver Twist, uniting the novel's two central figures of virtue and securing Rose's place in a family that values her for herself, not her birth. It is the final, concrete proof that the novel's moral order has been restored: love, merit, and forgiveness triumph over the stigma of illegitimacy and the cold calculations of social rank. The wedding takes place in the village church that will become the scene of Harry's clerical labors, and on the same day the couple enters into possession of their new home, a rustic dwelling that Harry has chosen over the worldly ambitions he once pursued. This event is the direct consequence of the revelation of Oliver's parentage, which simultaneously disclosed Rose's own history as the orphaned younger daughter of Agnes Fleming, making her Oliver's maternal aunt and removing the stain of shame that had led her to refuse Harry's earlier proposal. Rose had previously rejected Harry because she believed her doubtful birth would blight his prospects; she told him, with tears, that she owed it to herself and to him not to fasten herself, a clog, on all his hopes and projects. Harry, however, had already resolved to level all fancied barriers between them. He had renounced the patronage of his powerful relatives and chosen instead a quiet life as a country clergyman, offering Rose not distinction among a bustling crowd but a home and a heart. When he laid this new rank and station at her feet, she could no longer refuse. The marriage thus represents the triumph of personal integrity over social prejudice, and it is celebrated by the entire circle of Oliver's friends. Mrs. Maylie takes up her abode with her son and daughter-in-law, enjoying the contemplation of their happiness. Mr. Brownlow, having adopted Oliver, moves to within a mile of the parsonage, linking together a little society whose condition approaches as nearly to perfect happiness as can be known in this changing world. The wedding is the final beat in the novel's romantic plot, the moment when the promise of the earlier, painful interview between Harry and Rose is fulfilled, and when the community of the virtuous is sealed.